Members of the Asian community in Malawi have been living in fear in the last three months after the Shayona Cement shareholders kidnapping and subsequent freedom upon paying a huge ransom.

The whole jigsaw puzzle was being masterminded by Mustak Chotia a trader and property developer in Lilongwe.

Other than him Chotia has been working closely with some law enforcement officers to bring in Congolese, Somalians and Mozambicans nationals who have been targeting over twenty prosperous business men and families.

Chotia through his Mozambican, Congolese and Somalians kidnapping rough necks have been calling members of the Asian business community threatening them that they shall be kidnapped because all their movements and their locations plus vehicles are known.

In this case they are supposed to deposit a certain amount of money in an offshore account. This confusion has been going on and the Malawi Police service and the Ministry of Home Affairs had been notified and had put up a special team to investigate to the last letter so that the culprits are exposed.

Through a cyber-experts and a mobile phone guru all fingers have been pointing at Chotia and there is detailed intelligence and counterintelligence giving the investigations a stamp of approval.

In the meantime, some members of the Shayona Cement family are still stuck in Asia for fear of Chotia threats and kidnapping attempts.

Two weeks ago using some phony platforms on the Social Media Chotia was shifting the blame to Mr. Dipaki the owner of Sealand Investments.

Coincidentally, Dipaki is also a victim of kidnapping whereby his younger brother in 2018 was kidnapped right at his gate in area 9.

His brother Altae was kept for seven days within Lilongwe before he was left free at St Johns on the Blantyre Road.

The fact that Chotia was pushing the blame to Dipaki yet he knew that Dipaki was a victim it shows that his brothers kidnapping he had a hand in it.

Dipaki has been in the forefront trying to calm the situation involving these threats and attempts to kidnap members of the business community.

With this expose the police are supposed to interview Chotia so that he can show them members of his gang.

In Area 9 and Area 2 the police have been mounting security checks 24 hours around the clock so that the kidnappers cannot succeed and they have also been providing security to the business community at their various work places.

As if this is not enough the police have also been providing escort services and close protection.

Chotia when contacted by this reporter he was very rude and unwilling to speak saying he once served two years sentence at Maula Prison as such he cannot be threatened.

He explained that he does not grant interviews and cut the line.

The police public relations officer James Kadadzera was not ready to comment on the matter saying that investigations were still at its infancy as such any divulging of information will alert those implicated in these fiendish act.

Chotia who is also involved in cases of illegal land possession and cases of cross border human trafficking with his Somalian links is always at logger heads with fellow business men due to envy and
jealous.

But for him to resort to kidnapping it shows that he is using outside human resource and he has deadly intents.

In July 2020, seven people were arrested for stealing computer hard drives at Ministry of lands to conceal evidence of illegal land transactions. The seven include Khadba and Chotia. 

Lilongwe Police Station spokesperson Joseph Kachikho even confirmed the arrest of the suspects.

Police in Lilongwe have arrested Ignatius Kamwanje over a Facebook post which he alleged that money was being stolen from customers’ accounts at National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc.

Kamwanje was arrested Wednesday morning following a complaint lodged by NBM plc. Kamwanje wrote unverified stories of his Facebook page claiming that NBM plc employees were involved in an ‘inside cartel’ to steal money from customers’ accounts and that so far four employees had been arrested because of the issue.

The Lilongwe based World Vision of Malawi employee first wrote the story on his Facebook wall on 1st March 2021 that his relative had his K8.7 million stolen at NBM with the help of the bank employees.

He wrote again on 27th March 2021 where he alleged that there were four cases at the courts and that others are in jail because of issue.

“Those with National Bank accounts, check your balances regularly…ndalama zikutengedwa mma accounts. Yesterday about 4 cases at the court. Surprisingly it’s an inside cartel bcz others are in jail as I am talking. The relative whom I posted a story on my page and whose 2.8 million went missing with a balance of about 5.7 kulibe kalikonse..,” reads part of his post.

Insiders said after police investigated the issue following a complaint from the bank, they found that no one from the bank had been arrested in connection with the issue that Kamwanje was alleging or any other issue connected to missing customers’ money and that is why they invited Kamwanje to Lilongwe Police station to explain.

One social media commentator cautioned people to be responsible on social media. “I think this is a big lesson to everyone, people should be responsible on what they post on social media, otherwise these are the consequences,” he said.

By Watipaso Mzungu

The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) says all is set for peaceful demonstrations against punitive taxes, levies, interest rates, exorbitant mobile phone tariffs and theft of K6.2 billion Covid-19 funds.

CDEDI has mobilized Malawians to take to the streets tomorrow following the decision by the Tonse government not to remove value added tax (VAT) and other taxes of essentials goods such as edible cooking oil.

The organization had initially given the government seven days to comply or face nationwide protests.

CDEDI executive director Sylvester Namiwa told Nyasa Times this morning that all is set for the holding of the demonstrations.

“In Lilongwe, the demonstrations will start at 9 am from Lilongwe Community Centre Ground to the Civic Offices in City Centre via Mchesi. In Blantyre, the peaceful demonstrations will start at 9 am from the Kamuzu Upper Stadium to the Civic Offices via the Highway passing through Ginnery corner roundabout. In Mulanje the peaceful demonstrations will start at 9 am from Nkhonya to the Council Offices via Chitakale,” said Namiwa, adding that petitions will be delivered in all the mentioned councils.

He said as a law-abiding institution, CDEDI wrote the following city authorities and councils in order to inform them about the scheduled peaceful demonstrations in Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Blantyre Cities; and Mulanje district council.

The law states that holding a peaceful demonstration is a constitutional right, but the convener should notify the authorities at least 48 hours before the date of the demonstration.

However, although CDEDI wrote the letters on Monday April 14, 2021, it is only the Mzuzu City Council that responded promptly by calling for a planning meeting that was held at the council chambers on Friday, 16 April 2021.

The meeting resolved to reschedule the protests due to the Vice President Dr. Saulosi Chilima’s official visit to the region, a development the city authorities said would strain security agents.

Namiwa said this means that tomorrow; the demonstrations will not take place in Mzuzu.

“The silence from the rest of the councils is a futile attempt to deny Malawians their right to hold peaceful demonstrations. Additionally, it is a clear case of impunity and arrogance that is being displayed in our public offices. On the other hand, it is evidence enough that the Malawi Congress Party’s (MCP) regime is in itself a threat to the future of our hard earned democracy,” he said.

He said CDEDI is keen to liberate Malawians from decades of economic bondage by demanding the immediate removal of 16.5 percent VAT on cooking oil.

The organization is also demanding the commencement of the review and subsequent removal of some of the taxes and levies on fuel, water and electricity, in a bid to reduce the cost of production, thereby making the local products and services more affordable and accessible to the ordinary Malawians, who are also the voters.

Namiwa emphasized that Malawians are currently struggling to make ends meet due to among many others, the high cost of living, which is as a result of high cost of essential commodities and services such as water, electricity, cooking oil, fuel and mobile phone charges.

“CDEDI is therefore is informing all well-meaning Malawians and patriotic citizens that it will lead nationwide protests against punitive taxes, levies, interest rates, exorbitant mobile phone call charges and data and the massive plunder and theft of the Covid-19 funds. All these malpractices are mercilessly punishing the vulnerable and the marginalized in society. These peaceful demonstrations are scheduled to take place this Wednesday, 21st April 2021, in the cities of Lilongwe and Blantyre, and Mulanje district,” he said.

“The dressing code during these demonstrations is red and black. Covid-19 preventive measures will be followed. Facemasks will be distributed to the demonstrators. CDEDI is calling upon the Malawi Police service to provide security as per their constitutional mandate to ensure the safety and security of lives and property of all Malawians. CDEDI is also calling upon the Malawi Defense Force (MDF) to do likewise, following a very good precedent they set during the previous demonstrations that were staged in protest against the May 21, 2019 tripartite elections, where they were deployed to protect lives and property,” he added.

While commending President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera for releasing the audit report into the looting of the K6.2 billion Covid-19 funds, Namiwa reminded the President to make public findings of the 6 July report, the Statehouse Crossroads accommodation scandal and the fuel supply saga at the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA).

He further demanded that Chakwera should also exonerate himself from allegations former MCP Kasungu parliamentarian Alex Major leveled against him bordering on nepotism, favoritism and corrupt practices by his senior cabinet ministers and top state house staff.

By Emmanuel Mwandama, a Contributor

About forty three students from the University of Malawi, College of Medicine, risk losing their places at this institution due to lack of  school fees.

According to Jeremiah Dambuleni who is one of the forty three, the students were once on a Daeyang University scholarship scheme but along the way the university withdrew the scholarship and this forced the students to go back to Unima council for a discussion on the way forward.

“After the withdrawal of the scholarship by Deayang University, we were stranded. We had a discussion with the Unima council where we were told that we would be paying US$5,500 annually. We told them the fees were on a higher side and then they promised to look into the matter,” said Dambuleni.

Later, the students engaged the services of a private legal practitioner to stop the university from withdrawing them from the college. 

“Since we were afraid of being withdrawn from the college, we sought the legal redress. As of now the court is yet to make its position clear on this matter. And the University of Malawi council says it shall wait for what the court shall say. But our names are not on the list of the students to attend classes this coming Monday. We are afraid things are getting out of hand,” said Dambuleni.

A good number of these students are in their fourth year at the college. It remains an open secret that many able young Malawians fail to further their education because of financial constraints.

One of the very crucial issues during the 2020 campaign period was the high fees for tertiary education but it remains to be seen if the new regime will do something about this.

Efforts to talk to the Unima Council proved futile as their phones went unanswered.